​February may have fewer days than all the other months, but that alone can’t explain how quickly it went by. Continuing our work as Nomads drop-ins at Faith, we were joined by a few other couples, including Pat and Fred to accomplish some significant projects. In the midst of it all, one of our number became gravely ill, so our time and attention became divided as we tried to find ways to support Don and his wife Bobbi. The good news is that he is doing much better and is on the mend.

Fred painting Wesley roof while Dave looks on

Ups and Downs

The project seemed to be one without end. The roof of the church’s Wesley Hall needed to be painted with the same reflective coating we had applied to the gym roof. However, Wesley’s flat roof and deteriorating surfaces made the preparation difficult, if not endless. Whether it had rained or not, the roof was usually wet. Finding a time when it was dry enough to prep or paint slowed the work even more. So, we took every small accomplishment as a victory. First section painted. Half painted, half prepped. Second coat on a section. And so on. Until on a chilly Saturday morning in early March, we finally sprayed the last section and sent the last of the paint and materials down the ladder. It was all done. We could only hope the work would last long enough to make the effort worth the while.

We did have a few comical moments along the way. Such as when one of the cats followed Fred up the extension ladder and almost walked right into the fresh paint. Now that’s loyalty.

Although the gym roof painting had been finished in January, there was still some more work to do while we had the lift. Morris fashioned metal to slide into the gutters to extend their life, while Cathy inserted screen over the gutters on the north side where they sat under the live oak trees. Morris and Karen also caulked the windows and patched some holes. Dave, Morris, Karen and Evalyn trimmed trees throughout the property and Morris finished changing the parking lot light bulbs and fixing a light fixture with Ron.

Morris says goodbye to his toy

​​But we only had a couple of hours of work left to do with the lift on the roof when the flat bed arrived to take it away. As Cathy stood on the roof looking down, her only means of egress was loaded onto a truck and hauled away. Umm. Excuse me. Could I have a ladder? That meant Morris and she had to finish the gutter overhaul laying down on the edge of the roof. We were doing great until the clouds started to darken. We quickly scooped up our tools and made our way over the roof and down the ladders managing to stay mostly dry. However, it meant one more trip up the next morning to call it done.

On the Sunday before the lift was taken away, to give the church members a look at what we’d done on the roof, Dave offered any one with an interest (and no fear of heights) to take a ride up in the lift. Quite a number of people took him up on the free ride.

Electrical Currents​​In early February, we were joined by Ron, a master electrician and his wife Pat. Ron can keep us busy trying to keep up with him and this year was no exception. As he had in past years, he continued the conversion of the church’s electrical panels from old Federal Pacific circuits to newer circuit breakers. This year, he converted the one in the Peeler Youth building, which is the oldest building on the campus. However, he also helped out a sister church, Swaim UMC, which had a breaker panel that made the one in Peeler look brand new. This one dated back to the 20’s and had screw in fuses with a patchwork of subpanels and a spiderweb of wires. Not so once his work was done.

One of the long-considered projects that had never gotten traction was to replace the 4ft fluorescent fixtures with LED bulbs. However, thanks to an amazing sale at Habitat Restore (and some price negotiations by Dave), the church was able to purchase enough bulbs to replace all of these style lights on the campus. Converting a fluorescent fixture to LED requires a relatively simple change in wiring to bypass the ballast, which is no longer a requirement. With the dozens of rooms to be converted, it was not going to be enough for Ron to do this alone. He trained a number of us to make the conversion and as days passed, we worked our way through dozens of fixtures and hundreds of bulbs. There are still as many left to do, but a lot of progress has been made to save on the church’s light bills and hopefully simplify future maintenance. No more replacing ballasts.

Steeple nearing completion

Nailing It Down

In between trips to the roof, Fred had been working diligently on completing both the steeple deck and the shower room. This project was begun before Christmas and despite frequently being superseded by other priorities, Fred managed to move it along. In addition to building the outer deck, he added a floor to the interior that had to sit above the old roof peak that was still part of the steeple’s structure. In the process, he also discovered and repaired a serious break in the church’s irrigation pipes, and constructed a handrail for safety. Ron added lights to the interior, an outlet, and 2 floodlights to illuminate the cross at the top of the structure. With construction completed, all that was left was to paint the exterior, as Pat and Fred neared the end of their stay at Faith.

New shower

Installing a new shower had become a priority to ensure compliance with the UM church’s Youth Protection guidelines. With a youth event scheduled for each of the first 2 weekends in March, putting the finishing touches on the newly constructed shower room became a priority. The shower walls had been installed by early February, but as time permitted, Fred and Pat worked to install the drywall, put down a dri-deck over the concrete floor, install towel hooks and grab bars. With just a day to go, a coat of paint went onto the table and a shower curtain rod went up with shower curtains hung. By the skin of our teeth . . .

Well head with water flowing before pump installed

​Let It Flow

With all of the work on the roof, the lights, the steeple, and the shower, there was one project that was languishing for lack of attention. The church wanted to reactivate a well that would be used to irrigate a new community garden for World Relief and to replace the source of water for the church’s irrigation system. However, in mid-February a Nomad arrived to work on a project at Christ Church in Neptune Beach who was very interested in the problem with the well. He had expertise in this area and was willing to spend time on his days off to work on it.

Old well head and pipes

​​So, one Friday he went with Dave to “look” at it. That led to an attempt to pull up the old pump by hand. Not happening. Then, with a few more Nomads joining in, an A-frame was constructed out of some scaffolding parts to use for leverage. As the first 20 feet of metal pipe came up, it was cut off to make it easier to handle. When the 2nd 20 foot section came out, another cut was made. How deep was this pump? Another 20 feet and the pump appeared. Since the water was flowing out of the well head without the pump, it became apparent that this was an artisanal well with its own natural flow. So, a temporary cap was installed while a replacement pump was researched. That initial “look” had turned into a 6 hour project.

Expansion tank

​After several days of research, including welcome advice from a local company, which led to a visit from a knowledgeable professional, the correct type of pump, expansion tank, pressure gauges, etc were purchased. After Butch fitted the pump on the pipe, Ron put the wiring in place to connect it to power on the surface. With 2 lengths of 20ft PVC pipe (only 40ft depth was now required), Dave , Butch and Cathy took time on another Friday to install the new pump. It went in much easier than the old one came out. The only problem was created by a last minute change in an eyebolt. The original one installed was too big for the well opening. When swapped for a smaller one, the gap created a leak in the wellhead.

​After Ron finished wiring the pump to power, the switch was flipped and water flowed. As if to prove it, a few of the original sprinkler heads popped up and starting watering the old soccer field. Success! After a few failed attempts to plug it, the leaking hole was eventually plugged and the well head remained dry. Now the work to connect it to the pipes for irrigation could begin in earnest.

RV Stuff

Amid the flurry of church projects, Dave managed to purchase a new breaker box to step down our 50Amp service to 30amp and protect it with 30amp breaker. This would hopefully prevent the problem we encountered when the wires overheated from too much draw. Ron helped by installing the breaker and a 15-amp outlet in the box.

We discovered another leak under the coach, this time in our fresh water system. We’re managing it until we can get the RV in for service.

​Downtime​We got to spend an evening visiting with George and Gail as they were traveling south from NC. We took a drive to Mayport and enjoyed some seafood at Singleton’s together. Our next out of town visitors were from Miami and Shelly who stopped by before heading north to show us the amazing work they’ve done on the Airstream since we last saw them. (Check it out on their website.)

Hemingway climbed up to be with Pat

​We also took time out for dinners with fellow Nomads and other church members. We work a lot, but we have a lot of laughs that make the work go a lot faster. And then there’s our newest arrivals – Hemingway and Sandy. These are the friendliest of the cats on the campus and they are able to make even the grumpiest of us melt when they come by to visit. And they’re pretty smart. As you can see below, Hemingway can climb a ladder. Now, if we could get him to paint as well.